


Engaged In His Employment

by Mithrigil



Category: Sengoku Basara
Genre: Diabolical Schemes, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Service, Size Kink, Villain Couple, Weakness and Strength, or is it Sub/dom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithrigil/pseuds/Mithrigil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toyotomi Hideyoshi has burned all affection, all attachment, all weakness from his life. He has no friends, only allies and subordinates. He has no family. He takes no women or boys to bed. He killed his wife to prove his strength.</p>
<p>He has not killed Hanbei.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Engaged In His Employment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gileonnen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gileonnen/gifts).



> Thanks and love to P. for reading this over my shoulder, and to anyone who clicked in for my dorky title.

_From Takenaka Hanbei_   
_To General Toyotomi Hideyoshi, greeting._

_The peak of autumn and its golden brilliance are echoed and distilled in the trees, now bare, that yet surround Mikawa even after the fires that quickened them. The boughs that persist above the cliffs belie our victory, assured, if at a greater cost than we projected. I do apologize: my hands are, of course, as yours, but without your surety and strength, and if my haste in securing the castle reflects poorly upon the Toyotomi I will make all due penance. But it is ours, and its young lord has surrendered, and we have made up our losses in tens of thousands of recruits. Certainly, they can be trained, and those who are strong will see the light of your vision._

_So permit and forgive my floridity: I am merely moved by the honor I have done you._

_Of course, I will be bringing the young lord of Mikawa back to Odawara with us: for all his bravado and talk of strength, he is yet young, and for all his talk of surrender in the name of peace I fear there are those who will resist us if he remains in his homeland. You will certainly forgive my making this decision out of hand, but I assure you, it is not mercy. Clemency for the weak is not the Toyotomi way. I mean, of course, that dear little Takechiyo is not weak, whether one takes the inevitable strength of his allies into account or not._

_Besides, Honda Tadakatsu is in hot pursuit of our entourage, and I only hope this letter reaches you before he reaches us. Alas, my stride is not so great as yours!_

_With all due respect,_

_Takenaka Hanbei_

*

Hideyoshi arrives not a moment too soon. Tadakatsu blocks out the sun and wheels down from the sky, drill whirling and aimed straight for the back of Hanbei’s head despite the carriage wall, and Hanbei (who accepted the inevitability of death long ago and is amused that it might come at the point of a weapon instead of, well, the rest) can only keep riding on toward his goal. But there Hideyoshi is, as grand and inexorable as a force of nature, and he, to put it bluntly, socks Tadakatsu in the jaw so hard that the gears don’t grind.

It’s magnificently brutal. But that’s what Tadakatsu deserves for not bowing to the strength of the Toyotomi.

“You’re despicable,” Takechiyo says.

“You’re awake.” Hanbei smiles and turns to him. The boy looks darling curled up in his section of the carriage and a neat coil of rope, like a little present or a sacrificial offering. “And that’s an impressive word for someone so small.”

“I’m not small, I’m the Lord of Mikawa!”

“Of course you are,” Hanbei says, and wonders if the boy is perceptive enough to be insulted. “But don’t worry. If dear Tadakatsu dies avenging you, we will treat him with all due honor.” The fight rages on outside the carriage -- my, Hideyoshi is in fine form today! and well-matched, at that -- and Hanbei indicates the window with a sweep of his arm. Wait, Takechiyo’s too tied up to change positions and see. Ah, well. “Of course, if you were to change his instructions, and make him bow to us, we would spare his life and appreciate his service.”

Takechiyo bites his lip and, for a moment, looks his age. “You really are an awful person, you know.”

“Why, dear Takechiyo. Why ever would you say such a thing?”

The earth quakes, and lightning flashes outside the carriage window.

“I am merely what Tadakatsu is to you, to Lord Hideyoshi,” Hanbei says. “ _I_ certainly wouldn’t stop at anything to rescue him, unless he personally gave the order. I understand Tadakatsu at least as well as you do. If that’s as awful as you say, then aren’t you calling your own dear retainer an awful person?”

“Tadakatsu isn’t awful!” Takechiyo squirms and shouts.

“Well, then neither am I. I’m just doing the same thing that he is, aren’t I? I was charged to bring you to my lord. Unless he himself changes his order, or I die trying to complete it, I won’t stop.” Hanbei favors the dear boy with a smile, as reassuring as it ought to be. “Tadakatsu is privileged to have a master like you, don’t you think?”

Takechiyo pouts, but doesn’t cower into the ropes.

“And like any good retainer,” Hanbei goes on, “he would be honored to die in your service.”

For a moment, it is quiet enough in the carriage that the battle outside feels like the end of the world, encroaching on a pocket of stillness.

“Stop the carriage,” Takechiyo says, so fetchingly imperious.

“Why on earth would I do such a thing?” 

“I’m going to stop him,” Takechiyo says. “I’ll show him I’m safe and I’ll stop him, and he’ll serve you too.”

Perfect. Hanbei grins, and passes the order along to the carriage driver. But first, he corrects, “Not me, dear Takechiyo. He’ll serve Lord Hideyoshi.”

*

“My, my,” Hanbei says once he gets a look at Hideyoshi’s knuckles. “You’ve bested an impressive foe indeed.”

Each of Hideyoshi’s fingers is as thick as two of Hanbei’s, and his knuckles are like anthills. The blood has dried between them, of course, but they and his gauntlets will still have to be thoroughly cleaned.

Hanbei is, of course, equal to the task.

“Impressive in his might,” Hideyoshi agrees, proffering his hand. The order is implicit, and Hanbei accepts it just as implicitly, setting about his work with hot towels and crisp medicine. “I haven’t had a fight that concerned me that much in ages.”

“It does help that you’re about the same size,” Hanbei agrees. “Though in matters of strength--”

“His strength concerns me,” Hideyoshi says.

Hanbei takes a moment to concentrate on an insidious track of blood that has worked its way into the deep fissures in Hideyoshi’s skin. “Surely you don’t mean that you think he can match you,” he says, rubs the back of Hideyoshi’s hand in deft, diligent strokes. “Even after he’s repaired, he’ll still have bent the knee to you. Men like dear Tadakatsu aren’t given to deception.”

“Men like Tadakatsu are weak,” Hideyoshi says.

Hanbei can’t help laughing, if only a little. “You say that after he’s split your knuckles and spilt your blood,” _and nearly killed me, for that matter._

“I say what’s true.” It would be difficult for anyone but Hanbei to tell, but Hideyoshi’s other fist, the one that Hanbei hasn’t attended to yet, tightens just a fraction of an inch. “His body is strong, but his mind is weak.”

“And what’s so weak about it? Surely you can’t mean that it’s weak to serve as loyally as he does. Why, I was just comparing myself to him.”

“You aren’t weak,” Hideyoshi says, and Hideyoshi only says things that are true.

It really oughtn’t be as moving as it is. Hanbei bows his head to the task before him, even though it doesn’t hide his smile. He cleans the blood out of Hideyoshi’s knuckles but keeps touching, kneads the thick, tense muscles in Hideyoshi’s palm. “I’m not weak,” he murmurs, because to question his lord’s assessment is treacherous, and yet Hanbei can’t quite believe it. _Not weak,_ when he’s dying every day for lack of air. _Not weak,_ when he relies on the weakness of others.

“Would you serve another if I ordered you to?” Hideyoshi asks.

“Not the way I serve you,” Hanbei says, and lowers his mouth to kiss Hideyoshi’s clean skin. Even if the blood is only underneath now, the smell remains. “But I don’t believe that’s what dear Tadakatsu is up to.”

Hideyoshi only permits Hanbei the one long kiss. He withdraws his hand entirely after that, and lays it on his knee to present the other hand. Hanbei takes this order the same as he took the first, and every other order since. The blood is drier on this hand, the skin tighter. Hanbei cleans and massages it in companionable silence for almost five minutes, lets his mind fade into the rhythm of simple, almost mindless work. Of course it isn’t truly mindless -- Hanbei has never been the sort to lose himself in service -- but contemplation isn’t insulting to Lord Hideyoshi, and Hanbei indulges in it.

“Tell me what you think he’s up to,” Hideyoshi says, when Hanbei is nearly done medicating both of Hideyoshi’s hands.

“Tadakatsu isn’t capable of deception.” Hanbei can’t help the amusement in his tone, and shouldn’t have to. “One might say he’s simply not built that way. But he lives for dear little Takechiyo, and only serves the Toyotomi now because Takechiyo told him to. He won’t betray us. But his loyalties are to the boy, not you.”

Hideyoshi nods. “And the boy’s loyalties?”

“Can surely be turned in time,” Hanbei says, and winds clean silk around Hideyoshi’s hands. The cloth is a fairly standard width for bandages, but Hideyoshi’s hands are double, even triple the circumference and it’s more like wrapping an entire wounded animal than one part of a man. “I’ve assigned him to little Sakichi’s room. You know how highly dear Sakichi thinks of you. I’m sure he’ll convince Takechiyo of your virtues in no time at all.”

“He should not have to be convinced.”

“He’s twelve,” Hanbei laughs. “Twelve-year-olds are not given to reason.”

“Yes, I remember,” Hideyoshi says, and stops Hanbei with one swift and unexpected gesture: an almost-fond curl of his fist, around Hanbei’s hand.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi has burned all affection, all attachment, all weakness from his life. He has no friends, only allies and subordinates. He has no family. He takes no women or boys to bed. He killed his wife to prove his strength.

He has not killed Hanbei.

It’s also not the first time he’s permitted Hanbei this indulgence. Hanbei knows this for the privilege it is, and accepts it gratefully. He lowers his head to Hideyoshi’s hand, rubs his cheek against the bandages until it reaches skin, then kisses what he’s earned. Hideyoshi unfurls his fist and cups Hanbei’s face. He could crush it. He doesn’t, and Hanbei kisses his palm where an inch of skin is exposed between strips of clean silk.

“Come into my lap,” Hideyoshi says, and of course Hanbei obeys.

He knows from experience that he can only reach if he’s up on his knees, and he braces himself on Hideyoshi’s thigh, holds on to his shoulders. There’s an elegance in the absurdity of their difference, like a hero and a beast in an ink-painting, set apart by color and pattern and scale. Even their mouths are mismatched when they meet, Hanbei kissing one lip instead of two.

But the kiss is sweet, and strong, and far from passive, and if there is no love behind it, there’s pride, and that’s enough.

Hideyoshi speaks quietly, for him, but this close to Hanbei makes it seem like the rumble of the earth itself. “You serve me well.”

“I live to,” Hanbei says, and kisses him again.

*

_From Takenaka Hanbei_  
 _To General Toyotomi Hideyoshi, greeting._

_Snow suits Odawara as well as silver and jewels in the hair of a courtesan: a festive accompaniment in the dances of daytime, and a hassle and hazard after night falls. The battlements are dangerous, and the walls dripping with ice, and I find I envy you, gone south to hunt recruits. Perhaps they will bring warmth with them, as you do. I envision you shattering the ice with one punch, parting the clouds and melting the icicles that have gathered on Tadakatsu’s antlers._

_Apropos of that, dear Takechiyo had something of a fall the other day. It seems he and Sakichi were fighting, and Tadakatsu arrived to rescue the boy, whereupon I myself had to intervene and prevent him from flying off. He will heal, certainly, but his pride may take longer to mend. Dear Sakichi, of course, is entirely unapologetic, which I think is a credit to him. I think when he comes of age he will make a fine officer. I’ve entrusted him to Yoshitsugu, who has an uncanny and somewhat inexplicable fondness for the young man._

_But Takechiyo’s resistance to the Toyotomi cause troubles me. Perhaps, when you return, you will take him in hand._

_In the meantime, I hold down the fort, so to speak, as best I am able, and make further plans for our growth, as an entity and as a nation. There is, as ever, much to do, and I do it all for you with all willingness and such strength as I possess._

_With all due respect,_

_Takenaka Hanbei_


End file.
